Homecare Aide

Description The Home Services Worker is a paraprofessional member of the in-home services team who works under the supervision of a care coordinator and performs assistance with activities of daily living, housekeeping, personal laundry, and companionship provided to an individual in his or her personal residence, which are intended to enable that individual to remain safely and comfortably in his or her own personal residence.

Home Services or in home services does not include services that would be required to be performed by an individual licensed under the Nurse Practice Act. (Section 2.09 of the Act) Home services are focused on providing assistance that is not medical in nature, but is based upon assisting the client in meeting the demands of living independently and maintaining a personal residence, such as companionship, cleaning, laundry, shopping, meal preparation, dressing, and bathing.

Essential Job Functions/Responsibilities 1) Duties of Home Services Worker may include the following: A) Observation of client functioning and reporting changes to his/her supervisor or employer; B) Assistance with household chores, including cooking and meal preparation, cleaning and laundry; C) Assistance in completing activities such as shopping and appointments outside of the home; D) Companionship; E) Completion of appropriate records documenting service provision; and F) Assistance with activities of daily living and personal care.

2) To delineate the types of services that can be provided by a Home Services Worker, the following descriptions of acceptable tasks: A) Skin Care.

A Home Services Worker may perform general skin care assistance.

Skin care may be performed by a Home Services Worker only when skin is unbroken, and when any chronic skin problems are not active.

The skin care provided by a Home Services Worker must be preventative rather than therapeutic in nature, and may include the application of non-medicated lotions and solutions, or of lotions and solutions not requiring a physician's prescription.

B) Ambulation.

A Home Services Worker may assist clients with ambulation.

Clients in the process of being trained to use adaptive equipment for ambulation, such as walkers, canes or wheelchairs, require supervision by an agency licensed to provide home health or home nursing services during the period of their training.

Once the prescribing individual or the health care provider responsible for the training of the Client is comfortable with